Will Levis' practice struggles are not a bad thing

Football season and overreactions go hand-in-hand. It’s a beautiful reminder that we’re getting back to the best time of the year. The struggles that Will Levis showed at Kentucky’s open practice were not anything shocking for a preseason practice. It’s just that this time the public was able to see it this time.

Defense gets to Levis

We all expect this defense to be a topi-tier unit within the SEC this season. The mixture of veteran leadership in the box and freakish athleticism on the outside has BBN foaming at the mouth to watch them once Miami (OH) comes to town in a few weeks. If that’s the case, why shouldn’t they get to our quarterback a few times in the spring?

Will Levis did not sugarcoat the offenses performance at practice:

“Not good.” “Today wasn’t our day, we had some flashes but we need to be a lot better.”

Levis was intercepted multiple times today.

— Hunter Shelton (@HunterShelton_) August 6, 2022

Overreacting is fun. It gets the blood flowing and gives you something to focus on for a small amount of time until you find something else to get unreasonably mad about. I get that, totally. It’s one of the best parts of being a sports fan.

Still, though, we can’t get too worked up over some summer mistakes that all offenses have. I don’t really have the care or effort to look if Bryce Young has done the same down in Tuscaloosa this camp. But I can almost assure you he’s been picked off a few times while Nick Saban scowl in the corner with his weird straw hat he continuously brings out. Every quarterback goes through this, nobody leaves camp with a perfect completion percentage. Really, it’s more satisfying to see him go through these struggles and own up to the fact that they are still working through rust and kinks.

Carrington Valentine intercepts Will Levis. Defense has had a nice showing today. pic.twitter.com/92toN0hTcb

— Hunter Shelton (@HunterShelton_) August 6, 2022

QB1 knows that adversity is necessary

“You don’t want it to be one-sided. There have been practices where the offense has done really well and the defense has done really well. It’s how it’s going to be,” Levis said to the media after practice. “You can’t get complacent, it’s not good when everything is going well for you. You got to learn how to deal with adversity. It’s good for me to make mistakes now and not during the season.”

Summer camp is also the time to push the limits of what you can and can’t do in game situations. Levis pointed this fact out beautifully. You have to be prepared for every situation that arises once the season comes along so that you aren’t uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the territory you’re in.

The game plan during the season nearly never goes exactly according to plan. You want to confine yourself to your strengths and maximize them, but you also have to be ready to be in a situation where you need to take shots in order to win a game. Might as well work on those situations now.

“It’s also understanding the fine line between ‘Yes, I want to see what the guys can do,’ and try to force some balls down the field but also playing within the realm of the offense and not making stupid decisions… that stuff just can’t happen. We had a couple of periods where we got the best of the defense and they had a couple of periods where they got the best of the offense. Our standard is definitely a lot higher than today but there’s a lot of good things to take from it.”

It’s fine, we’re fine

Come on, any one of us who have played football at any level understands the feeling it is to drag your way through summer camp. It gets monotonous and you just get tired of having to slice up your own defense. You want to just simulate the regular season and get the ball rolling. We’d all be lying if we said that we didn’t have a practice or two where we weren’t fully there, just trying to survive until the final whistle blows and you can go home.

For every bad play we’ll have stuck in our minds from the open practice, we also have to give credit and call out the good ones too. For example…

Will Levis ➡️ Chris Rodriguez pic.twitter.com/SrGoDOjvf8

— Jordan Mathus (@JordanMathusCC) August 6, 2022

For more from Levis and the rest of the staff, take a peak over at the KSR YouTube page to get your football fix while we all wait for real action to take place.